This invention relates to prime movers, and in particular to a buoyancy prime mover.
Fluids in the form of water or air have long figured in the conversion of energy. Water has long been used in water wheels to produce rotary motion. One example of water power is the grinding mill where wheat or corn was ground using energy produced by a water wheel placed under a waterfall. Another water power example is the modern hydroelectric plant where a turbine is turned by water escaping a dam, and the turbine in turn drives an electric generator.
Air power has been harnessed in the form of windmills, which may drive apparatuses as diverse as grinding mills, irrigation pumps, and electrical generators. Traditionally, windmills comprise rotating vanes attached to a base. The base swivels so that the vanes are disposed as orthogonal as possible relative to the wind, so that the effect of the wind will be maximized.
These traditional methods of power generation suffered from a number of disadvantages. Hydroelectric plants could only be located where a suitable waterfall was located, or where a river could be dammed to produce the necessary hydraulic head. Even where a river existed and the proper topographical features were present to provide reservoir containment once a dam was built, the environmental impact could have negative consequences. For example, the Colorado River in North America has been so extensively exploited that a mere trickle is all that survives to reach the Gulf of California. Consequently, during the last two hundred years the bulk of the delta ecosystem that once existed at the mouth of the Colorado River has been obliterated. Thus, the ecological downside of hydroelectric power generation can be considerable.
Windmills only work when there is wind present. During days in which the wind is calm, these devices simply do not work.
Existing Designs
A number of generators have been proposed to avoid the problems of hydroelectric plants and windmills. Brassea-Flores was granted U.S. Pat. No. 5,899,066 for a Buoyancy and Thermal Differentials Energy Generator, which used temperature differentials present in stratified ocean layers and/or night/day differentials in deserts. Although the Brassea-Flores device claimed to be able to operate using narrow temperature differentials, it was complex and therefore expensive.
Buoyancy-type generators have been proposed by a number of inventors. U.S. Pat. No. 5,753,978 was granted to Lee for a Floater Energy Generator. This device used floaters reminiscent of Ping-Pong balls. While the Lee device provided for power to be produced using the buoyancy of air trapped inside the floaters, the device was complex, partly due to the problem of introducing floaters into the bottom of a tank of water without allowing the water in the tank to leak out.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,363,212 and 4,981,015 were granted Everett and Simpson respectively for buoyancy prime movers. Although these devices taught translation of buoyant forces into rotary motion, their source of gas was not disclosed. In addition, the gas used was not recycled, but rather was allowed to escape into the atmosphere.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a buoyancy prime mover which does not require an unlimited supply of operating liquid nor operating gas. Design features allowing this object to be accomplished include a gas return pipe and a blower connecting a housing upper portion and a housing lower portion. An advantage associated with the accomplishment of this object is flexibility of location of installation.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a buoyancy prime mover which uses its own wheel motion to pull operating gas into wheel buckets. Design features allowing this object to be accomplished include a venturi pipe connecting a gas return pipe with a venturi disposed in a lower portion of a housing. A benefit associated with the accomplishment of this object is increased operating efficiency.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a buoyancy prime mover which is inexpensive and easy to construct. Design features allowing this object to be achieved include the use of components made of readily available materials. Benefits associated with reaching this objective include reduced cost, and hence increased availability.